CHAPTER ONE
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
with Estrogenicity Posing the Risk
ofCancerProgressioninEstrogen-
Responsive Organs
Kyung-A Hwang, Kyung-Chul Choi
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Laboratory of Biochemistry and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National
University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
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Corresponding author: e-mail address:
[email protected]
Contents
1.Introduction 2
2.Signaling Pathways of Estrogen in Estrogen-Responsive Cancers 4
2.1Genomic pathway 4
2.2Nongenomic pathway 6
2.3Ligand-independent signaling pathway 7
3.Diverse Effects of EDCs in Estrogen-Responsive Cancers 8
3.1Bisphenol A 8
3.2Nonylphenol and octylphenol 11
3.3Methoxychlor 15
3.4Triclosan 17
3.5Phytoestrogens 18
4.Conclusions 23
Acknowledgments 24
References 24
Abstract
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or synthetic compounds present in
the environment, which can interfere with hormone synthesis and normal physiological
functions of male and female reproductive organs. Most EDCs tend to bind to steroid
hormone receptors including the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, and
androgen receptor. As EDCs disrupt the actions of endogenous hormones, they may
induce abnormal reproduction, stimulation of cancer growth, and dysfunction of neu-
ronal and immune systems. Especially, xenoestrogens are classified as EDCs that have
estrogenic activity and disrupt normal estrogen signaling mediated by ERs, and they
have been emerging as another risk factor for estrogen-responsive cancers. In addition,
phytoestrogens, which are biologically active phenolic compounds derived from plants
and have structures similar to the principal mammalian estrogen, are also included in
Advances in Molecular Toxicology, Volume 9 #2015 Elsevier B.V.
ISSN 1872-0854 All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802229-0.00001-3
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